Augustus Winters POV:
Kaylee' s shriek died in her throat, replaced by a choked gasp. The music stuttered, then faded into heavy silence. All eyes, scores of them, were fixed on me. Doria, her face a mask of indignation, stepped forward, shielding Kaylee with her body.
"Augustus! What on earth has gotten into you?" Doria hissed, her voice low but laced with fury. "You' re scaring the child!"
Christopher, now at Deborrah' s side, his arm protectively around her, glared at me. "Father, you' re causing a scene. Kaylee is distressed. And Deborrah is still recovering."
I ignored them both. My gaze, sharp and unforgiving, swept over Kaylee. "Scaring the child?" I repeated, my voice dangerously soft. "This 'child' has been taught cruelty. Taught to dehumanize. Taught to believe she is entitled to torment another human being."
My eyes found Elena, the head maid, standing stiffly near the kitchen entrance. "Elena," I commanded, my voice carrying across the silent ballroom. "Tell me. How was Aisha Henderson treated in this house?"
Elena' s eyes darted frantically between Doria and me. The other servants, a dozen of them, exchanged nervous glances. No one dared to speak.
"I asked you a question, Elena," I pressed, my voice a steel trap. "And you will answer honestly. Or you will find yourself, and every single one of your co-conspirators, without employment. And possibly facing legal action."
Elena' s composure crumbled. Her face paled. "She… she was housed in the staff quarters, Mr. Winters," she stammered, her voice barely audible.
"And what was she fed?"
Elena hesitated, biting her lip. Her eyes flickered to Doria, who sent her a silent, warning glare.
Before Elena could answer, Chef Antoine, the burly chef from earlier, stepped out from the kitchen, his face grim. "She was given rice, Mr. Winters. Only rice." His voice boomed in the silent room. "And not even decent rice. The cheapest, most stale grains we had."
A collective gasp swept through the room. Whispers erupted, quickly suppressed by a sharp glance from me.
"Rice?" I repeated, my voice filled with a cold fury. "For a growing girl? And how did she eat this… rice?" My eyes darted to Kaylee' s dog bowl, still sitting on the servant' s tray.
Chef Antoine's gaze dropped. He couldn' t meet my eyes. "She… she would often come to the kitchen at night, sir. Looking for food. We sometimes found her… eating from the bins."
The last sentence hung in the air, a punch to the gut. Eating from the bins. My granddaughter.
"And those old clothes she clung to?" Chef Antoine continued, his voice thick with emotion, as if he could no longer hold back the truth. "The ones Kaylee just demanded be burned? Those were Deborrah' s. From before the coma. Aisha wore them because they were the only things she had left of her mother. She mended them countless times."
Christopher, his face now ashen, took a step forward. "Antoine, that' s enough! You' re fired! All of you who aided this… this charade are fired!"
"You will do no such thing, Christopher!" I snapped, my voice rising. "These people are merely speaking the truth, a truth you were too blind to see, or too arrogant to care about!"
Doria, regaining some of her composure, stepped in. "This is ridiculous, Augustus! You' re making a spectacle. This… this girl was a problem. A street urchin Deborrah somehow picked up. We simply tried to manage the situation." Her eyes narrowed. "And don' t forget, Augustus, I received a call from the hospital yesterday, after your absurd order for her tests. They said she was a match for my marrow. I immediately told them no. I refuse to be tainted by her blood."
My jaw dropped. The sheer, unadulterated cruelty of her words. She had actively rejected her own flesh and blood, preferring to suffer, or even die, rather than accept help from Aisha.
"You… you did what?" I breathed, the words barely a whisper.
Doria lifted her chin, a flicker of triumph in her eyes. "I handled it, dear. She' s gone now. Sent to foster care. Out of our lives. A problem solved."
Christopher, his face a mixture of horror and confusion, looked from Doria to me. Deborrah, standing beside him, began to tremble.
"Gone?" Christopher murmured, his voice hollow.
Doria nodded, a smug smile beginning to form. "Yes, good riddance. We don't need problems like that in this family."
A single, bitter laugh escaped me. It was a raw, broken sound, filled with a despair that clawed at my throat. "Solved, Doria? You foolish, foolish woman! You are all fools!" My voice rose to a roar. "You cast her out! You abused her! You denied her! And all this time… all this time, you were tormenting your own flesh and blood!"
My gaze swept over their stunned faces. "Aisha Henderson is not some street urchin! She is not some problem child! She is my granddaughter! Your granddaughter, Doria! And your daughter, Christopher!"
I pulled a thick envelope from my inner jacket pocket, my hands trembling as I held it aloft. "The results. The DNA results. Unmistakable. Christopher Winters, you are the biological father of Aisha Henderson."
Christopher' s face went white. His eyes, wide with disbelief, stared at the report. He snatched it from my hand, his fingers fumbling. He scanned the document, his breath coming in ragged gasps. Then, a choked sound escaped him. "No… no, this can' t be…"
He stumbled, passing the report to Deborrah, who stood frozen beside him. Deborrah' s eyes, still clouded by amnesia, widened as she read the precise, clinical language. The color drained from her face, leaving it ashen. Her hand flew to her mouth, a silent scream tearing through her.
Christopher' s voice was a raw whisper. "Granddaughter…?" He looked at Kaylee, then back at me, his eyes filled with a dawning horror.
"Yes, Christopher," I confirmed, my voice thick with a pain that was both my own and Aisha' s. "My blood. Your blood. The child you abandoned. The child you all condemned."
